Dinosaur World in Cave City, KY!

My mom and I took the boys to Dinosaur World in Cave City, KY recently.  We went in early June during a heat wave.  It is about a 4 hour drive from Soddy Daisy, TN.  We left at 5:30 am and arrived there at 10:00 am our time. Dinosaur World is on central time zone so it was only 9:00 am there and it had only been opened thirty minutes.

Dinosaur World is located off I-65.  We got there a different way though. Our GPS took us on a bunch of scenic back roads. The boys were very excited to go to Dinosaur World! They are really into dinosaurs right now. Their 4th birthday party was Dinosaur themed this year.  They can memorize all the names and facts about them. Harrison loves the "sharp tooths".

The first thing we did was go to the Dinosaur themed playground. It was already very hot outside in the 90s and the slides were too hot to slide on. So the playground really did not hold their interest long. It would be a great playground during less hot weather though. Dinosaur themed slides and dinos to ride on and jungle gyms and picnic tables. Dinosaur world is very picnic friendly. They have no food offered but have plenty of picnic tables in the shade.

The big attraction is the dinosaur walk.  It is very shaded so that was good. They try to make the dinosaurs appear more realistic by placing them in trees and keeping the trail very wooded. The trail is stroller friendly. There are a couple mulch areas on the trail that would be hard for a stroller though but the main trail is concrete.  The trail features over 150 dinosaurs in life size!  It was so neat seeing them in realistic proportions like that! The boys loved it and so did the adults!

You are not supposed to go over the ropes to get pictures with the dinosaurs, but H and I broke those rules!
They feature the dinosaurs with babies and in family groups. They also even theme it with meat eaters lurking in the trees stalking the herbivores! Very cool!

After the dinosaur walk we went to the dinosaur museum and movie cave.  They showed a dinosaur movie in a cave with fans blowing on you to cool you off. They also have an indoor museum with real life fossils.  Those did not hold the kids interest long. Then we did the fossil dig. The fossil dig is where each child can dig for real fossils in the sand and pick 3 to take home with them. So a free souvenir!  They liked that too.

Finally by this time less than two hours had passed, but we all were hot and tired. H wanted to check out the big sandpit where you dig up a dinosaur skeleton for a minute. Then it was time for us to leave. We bought some souvenirs in the giant gift shop.

I booked a room at the Super 8 in Cave City which was right next to Dinosaur World. There are several nice hotels near there to choose from. We liked the Super 8.  They had a nice outdoor pool which we swam in twice. We needed that pool to cool off! Cave City is a sparse town. I mean sparse! The closest Walmart was 15 miles away.  There is not much there but caves, Dinosaur World, some cheap tourist stuff, some hotels, a couple fast food restaurants, a couple local restaurants and a Cracker Barrel.  We at the the Cracker Barrel twice and it was a good experience.  The Super 8 rooms came with a mini fridge and a microwave. We went to a Save A Lot and got milk, fruit and a couple other things to eat in the room. The hotel has a great continental breakfast in the morning.

We left the next morning and headed home. I wish the weather was cooler and we might have done the dinosaur walk multiple times or played at the playground longer. If you keep your bracelet on you can leave and come back later in the day. I recommend going early in the morning or late evening if you go during Summer because of the heat taking from the enjoyment of the attraction. I would say Fall or early Spring would be the best time to go to Dinosaur World. We went on a Tuesday and it was not busy.

Quick facts about Dinosaur World:
Stroller friendly-Yes except for small parts on mulch
Kid friendly-Absolutely!
Age range of kids- I would think any kid that loves dinosaurs of any age would enjoy it. We saw much older kids there having a good time.
Food policy: No food service but very picnic friendly
Price- $12.75 for adults, $9.75 for children 3-12, $10.75 for Seniors over 60.  You can find coupons online for a dollar off too. Here is where I got mine http://www.couponsforfun.com/couponsforfun.com/Kentucky_Attractions_savings.html.
Pet friendly- Dogs on leashes are welcome
Hours-8:30 am central time to website did not say but I think I remember 7:30 pm every day of the year except Christmas Day and Thanksgiving Day.
Nearby attractions-Mammoth Cave, Diamond Cave, Kentucky Action Park, and Guntown Mountain

Here is the link to their website www.dinosaurworld.com